All Questions

The most obvious answer is that they don’t want to deorbit the station shortly, but why? Some calculations with the TLEs and SGP4 show the following Tiangong-2 / ISS close encounters: ...

Edit: Although this question may look similar to this one, here I am asking about a constant force in the direction of Mars, and no one of the answers there have answered this question. Because ...

Most of ISS crew consumables are designed for a long store period. I couldn't find any info - what are shelf life durations for the consumables? What are typical shelf life in ISS storage for: ...

I am trying to do some calculation on the 2-body problem but I am stuck as I need either the eccentricity or the periapsis of the orbit. I already have the orbital period which I assume as ~127 min as ...

There are lots of publications and blog posts on the exterior colors of the Apollo Lunar Module (a function of material choices), but I've struggled to find any information on the interior colors and ...

I know that the daytime surface temperature can exceed 270 degrees but if you measured the temperature 5 feet off the surface in shade what would the reading be?

The question Did DSCOVR travel “along the stable manifold of it's future SE L1 Halo orbit” to get there? is specific to DSCOVR's trajectory from Earth to its primarily heliocentric orbit near Sun-...

When watching the Year in Orbit documentary, one of cosmonauts points to the big bags stowed between/above the seats of Soyuz capsule, identifying them as the main and emergency parachutes. But they ...

So I am modelling an Earth - Mars low thrust trajectory in a simple manner. I'm telling my model to not model any trajectories where the spacecraft is moving any more than 200 m/s quicker or slower ...

The BBC Witness Podcast The Invention of Instant Noodles mentions that "Space Ram" (ramen noodles for space) was developed for eating on the Space Shuttle. After about ...

The question ROS is running on the Robonaut, but is the Robonaut running on the ISS (post 2015)? asks about Robot Operating System or ROS. In the Art Technica video Talking Space and Robots with NASA'...

Has there been any damage incurred during a rendevouz of two spacecraft? I was reading the answer to this question and starting realizing the sheer number of things that could still go wrong even if ...

When watching the live launch of the NASA Parker Solar Probe, I noticed that there was a burning flame near the launch site (bottom left in the image) My intuition tells me that it's hydrogen that's ...

I was reading this article on a potential theory of how we could terraform Mars using a magneto-tail. This would basically entail sticking a giant magnet that carried a charge between 10,000 and 20,...

My brother has recently been converted to a Flat Earther and is convinced that something that proves his theory is the moon landings being faked by NASA. I have managed to counter argue the majority ...

In the 2014 Space News interview of Jim Bridenstine (now NASA administrator, then member of the US house of representatives for Oklahoma) Q&A With Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) appears: Space ...

In a talk to the press which can be heard in the YouTube video NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine Explains the Lunar Gateway, NASA director Jim Bridenstine says after about ...

The Space News article Japan’s Interstellar Technologies goes full throttle toward small orbital rocket says: LOGAN, Utah — Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies is developing the main engine ...

An excerpt taken from the Wikipedia page on LOP-G says space-experts have criticized it: The Deep Space Gateway has received criticisms [...] for lacking a proper scientific goal. Former ...

In an episode of season 3 of The Big Bang Theory, the cast sends a laser pulse to the Moon. This seems to be a real thing: What Neil & Buzz left on the Moon (2004). My questions are: Could ...

In answers and comments to What does it mean when a software is called open-source for US-release only? I found out that when NASA uses the term "open source" it does not mean open to everyone! ...

The question Is it possible to see animals from space? has several answers, and they are all based on optical imaging. In this answer I describe and show images from the First count of individual ...

I'm trying to validate an collision detector , and for that I'm starting from a pair of initial conditions for a satellite.After that I will use an RK method to integrate . How can I determine a pair ...

This question is more about morals and philosophy and is a rather dark one. Anyway, has it been considered and/or is it a viable idea to send an astronaut to another planet to die, or is it ...

The BBC has a news article saying: "Mystery Russian satellite's behaviour raises alarm in US". But the article doesn't say how or why the behavior is "abnormal". And the linked transcript of Remarks ...

I have read articles and seen videos explaining why an SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) rocket* is not possible. But I was wondering... What would be required to achieve this? Answers can be literally ...

I am using GMAT to propagate satellite motion. At first, I excluded all the propagators besides harmonics(of second degree and 0th order, as shown in the picture): Here are the results(...

Edit: Although this question is marked as a duplicate of this one about solar sail thrust calculation, they are different because I ask about a solar sail that has an orbital trajectory and will have ...

When watching the NASA channel (such as on YouTube) you see clouds and occasionally land forms. Why is it we never see electric storms on Earth ?

The 3D printing company Made in Space works on a device to introduce 3D printing in space referenced as Archinaut. Is it known which technology/material will be used?

A recent comment includes the following: As my professor of OD would say "orbital determination is more of an art than a science." and was also referenced in chat: But OD is really an art, as ...

The Earth orbit propagator SGP4 (simplified general perturbation) was developed by NORAD to allow users to generate short-term prediction of satellite positions using two line element sets (TLEs) ...

If say the Tsar Bomba had been detonated directly over one of the Earth’s magnetic poles at ground level, would the nuclear electromagnetic pulse generated from that blast have had any momentary ...

If a modern ICBM can travel at speeds of 6-7 km/s (around 25000 km/h) and the speed of sound is 1192 km/h that's by my math Mach 21. So if a modern ICBM can travel at Mach 21, why are new hypersonic ...

Micrometeorite and debris impacts on orbital spacecraft pose a threat to systems and crew. For example, a high velocity impact caused this chip in the International Space Station's Cupola. The ISS ...

Recently reporters were allowed to take pictures of Crew Dragon and the SpaceX flight suit. Among them is this picture: I was under the impression that: Chairs needed to be custom molded / adjusted ...

Which glass should be used for overcoming radiation and orbital debris? I have seen about monolithic glass and acrylic glass, which can be used for this purpose. Are there any others type which can ...

How can one know the G forces imparted from the technical data presented on the websites of launch vehicles? I am interested in finding a way to theorise the max G-forces imparted by researching ...

There are a couple of viral videos claiming that "NASA shows that Earth is shaped like potato". The source of such videos is 3D visualization of data collected by GOCE satellite (full animation, video ...

In the Wikipedia article on Lunar eclipse there's given an image of how the Earth would look from the eclipsed Moon: This is obviously a schematic drawing. So I wonder, has the Earth ever been ...

This is not about about heat shields, materials, coolant, etc. I am not quite not getting the science that explains the Heat Vs Temperature, which is how the Parker probe is going to survive the ...

I found this diagram while looking up diamagnetic machines. Could anyone explain what engine this is?

Instead of using a standard solar sail material could the sail be built of diamagnetic material and sail faster?

Can diamagnetic materials or a diamagnetic devise be used to propel using the magnetic field of the Sun in a solar polar magnetic assisted slingshot?

For the purpose of this question I do not want to focus simply on the fact that there will be less "night time" for the panels while in orbit/outside the atmosphere of a planet. What I'd like to ...

After reading on regarding in situ manufacturing in space, I've found out there is already a 3D printer for plastic on ISS, and the company behind it works on a space craft to manufacture larger (...

As explained in this answer, the ionised plumes of engine exhausts can provide a low-resistance route for lightning strikes during a launch, potentially endangering the vehicle. This is thought to ...

Multiple concept art examples for a 1970s orbital fuel depot from Marshall Space Flight Center show cylindrical tanks perpendicular to a central core. But then at one end of the central core are ...

The past and current designs of rocket launchers have diameters up to 8-10 meters (Saturn-5, N-1, SLS, BFR), up to 13-14 meters for max cross-section dimension for Space Shuttle and Energia-Buran (...

I was wondering, are the comets 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and 103P/Hartley 2 the only Kuiper Belt comets to date that have their water D/H ratio measured? I have read that water D/H ratio of 67P/...